Kaiden's Cowboy-Themed First Birthday Party!

 Kaiden's 1st birthday party was a success! My goal was to make it as stress-free as possible, but despite my efforts I found that hosting a party is a lot of work...especially when you are on a budget! E and I talked about how easy it is for entertaining to take away from the focus of the event. We wanted to make sure that this was all about Kaiden and that he had the time of his life (even if he won't be able to remember it!) I closed all the doors in the party room and let Kaiden roam free. It melted my heart to see him running around the room with a train of kids behind him. Every step and every turn greeted our guests with a giggle and a smile. Of course, he enjoyed his very first taste of sugar which left him energized for the rest of the night. After all was said and done, I was glad the planning was over. I don't think I'll have this big of a party until he can actually remember it! :)

Sadly, I didn't get many shots of him in his full cowboy getup. Now that he can walk it's so hard to take a picture of him without motion blur...

We love you SOOOOOOO much Kaiden and hope that you can at least appreciate the pictures someday :)

For those interested in decoration info...

I wanted to do a theme that would provide inexpensive food, easy decorations and keep a unique theme. Cowboy was definitely the way to go, as Pinterest provided me with TONS of ideas. I made the barn (below) out of a tri-fold project board from Michaels, white duct tape and some paint. All of the centerpieces were Ikea planter pails (.79/each!) filled with styrofoam and topped with peanuts. The red table-clothes, balloons, gingham plates, silverware and clothespins were from the dollar store. I scored a helium tank from Wal-mart for $20 as well. Helium filled balloons cost about a $1 each so this helped save some money. The candy-filled gold bars, sheriff's badges, cowboy platter and cow table clothes were all purchased from various stores online. The adorable horse in our photo booth is actually from Ukraine, believe it or not! It was a gift from my uncle's friend and came in handy for all of the kids. The cut-out props were free printables from an amazing blog (I highly recommend you follow), Oh Happy Day. His month-by-month timeline pictures were made in Photoshop and printed at Office Max since I didn't have enough time to order them through my lab. His birthday letter guestbook was typed on Word and printed on brown paper from Michaels. The s'mores pops were handmade by my sister in law, me and my best friend...AND my best friend also made the cowboy boot smash cake (with an adorable mini cupcake as the spur! -- she's a genius). Lastly, his real birthday cake was made by Safeway and was their strawberry filled, white, and buttercream icing cake -- it was a HIT!!!! So tasty.